Arizona Chickens

[flower]

That is called a pinless peeper. It blocks near vision and breaks tha habit of feather picking. They work but I need to remove ii as she is good now.

 

[flower]

Flower, you have beautiful chickens! Is the white muffed one an americuana? What about the speckled one in the last photo? What breed is the one with her head in a bucket?

Yes the white muffed one is an ameraucana, Head in bucket is Brabanter. She is cute with ear beard, muffs and mohawk. Her best part is in the bucket ha ha. The Golden specked Hamburg is first and the splash with feathers on her neck and blue pinless peepers is a Marans. The other blue splash is a naked neck crossed with a blue laced wyandotte to make blue spash NNs

 

[maryhysong]

Well it's almost 7 and we are at 20 degrees. I haven't finished getting dressed to go check on the outdoor chicks; hopefully they are not too cold with their heat lamps.

 

[cbnovick]

HI.
They are Easter Eggers, Olive Eggers (breeder in Montana-Azriel BYC) and Blue Wheaten/Wheaten Ameraucanas (White Mountain Ranch--Wayne Meredith-Peachick lines.)
Cindy

 

[cbnovick]

I have 21- 3 day old chicks in brooder in my garage....2 - 250 watt bulbs going...temp in their brooder is 84...not great but good enough. Sore luck hatching eggs just before this horrid cold spell!

 

[Phottoman]

Thank you for all the PM's I received about carrying concealed, and being certified.

A quick explanation of what I do and where.

I have a set up in Oatman, Arizona, where the donkeys run wild and untamed in the streets. There are gunfighters taking to the streets several times a day. I was one of them for several years, and I sometimes still today am recognized by people when Phottoette and I travel out of town.

The tellers in the bank I do business with are always having fun with that, often when I am in line at the bank, one of them will see me in line and say out loud, "Hey, Skip, what is it you do for a living?" And of course I have to reply "I'm a bank robber."

Although certified, I do not teach anymore, but when I did, it was in Bullhead City, just across the river from Laughlin.

Phottoette was a Homicide Detective until she retired, and I have worked for many years now as a Fugitive Retrieval Officer for the State of Arizona, even when I was living in California.

Now I live in Golden Valley, where the low this morning was 15.5*F and is currently 19.7*F.

I started raising chickens in March last year, and after the attack of whatever killed and ate eight Free Ranging chickens about a week ago, I now have only eleven survivors and one rooster, and between them all, since the attack, I am getting one egg per day or less. And yes, their water has been freezing overnight for several nights now, so I have been getting up several times a night to carry out warm water, checking my girls, and comforting them as needed.

I am in NO WAY a person that wants to see ANY form of gun control, but I did object loudly when ALL ARIZONIANS were granted the "right" to carry concealed with or without having been permitted, I believe that was asking for trouble. Part of the permit and schooling on these permits was actually qualifying and proving the ability to handle and shoot a firearm, and I was surprised to see how little people knew about actually SHOOTING a hand gun after taking a class. Often times a permit was withheld because of the inability to shoot a handgun at an object just ten feet away.

I was listening to a radio program a few days ago where the 'star' of the show was telling people that he had carefully removed the magazine from his hand gun, and carefully placed both the weapon and the mag on the table/desk in front of him and was keeping a watchful eye on both. He said he was ready to evacuate the room and building if anything unfortunate 'happened' while he was on the air.

The mockery was pointed to say the least. You have all heard it before, guns don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people, and when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

I now have another reason to carry my piece as I work here at home, there is/are predator(s) roaming in my wonderful home area, and I fully intend to shoot (to kill) any predator(s) that invade my home, makes no difference how many legs that predator has, two or four, I will protect my home and homestead.

I spent over nine years in the military, serving my Country. I have my own opinions, as a right given me several hundred years ago by Our Constitution, and others have the right to believe differently, and I will fight to the death your right to your opinion, that may or may not "hit home" for you, but IN THIS STATE you have the RIGHT to defend yourself in a manner that fits your lifestyle.

Personally I never thought I would ever have to carry my weapon to defend my property, but I see it more and more clearly every day.

I sure didn't mean to ramble so much here, but I will say this. If you are ever in Oatman, stop and see me. I am across the street from the Post Office, on the side walk in front of the Mother Road Store, I hope adding culture and friendliness to tourists, and welcoming you to Oatman, and we can talk chickens or anything else you care to talk about.

Skip

(whew, now step back, take a breath, and walk calmly to the chicken coop and check on the girls)
7:20 AM, Sunday morning, January 13, 1213)

 

[maryhysong]

Skip you have had an interesting life. Thank you for your service. I have to agree that the only people I want carrying guns are those that know how to handle them safely and have the mental capacity to know what that means. I also agree that allowing just anyone to carry a gun of any kind without training and permits is just asking for trouble. I have a predator problem too; called people's dogs. I keep a .22 rifle behind the door and shoot to kill. Some people are appalled that I'd kill someone's 'pet' that they 'love so much'. My response is that if they loved it so much they'd keep it home in their yard. When it jumps a 6 foot electrified fence to kill chickens then it deserves to be dead. Sorry, I'm just tired of that sort of nonesense. I will say that since I shot the last two that lived down the street I see more dogs down there tied up in their yards, where they were never tied or kept home before so maybe the word is getting around

 

[MagicChicken]

Sweeter Heater update: It got down to 20 degrees here last night. It did not drop below 48 under the 50 watt Sweeter Heater in the brooder. Thermometer was placed 6-7" below the overhead heater. Not enough to keep tiny chicks happy but enough to keep older chicks from freezing if the auxiliary heat lamp went out. Per the manufacturer's instructions the Sweeter Heater is not recommended for use in temperatures under 50 degrees. It's fun to push the envelope when there are no chicks in the brooder to worry about.

 

[countrygirl74]

It's almost 9a.m. and it's still only 7 degrees! I went out this morning at 7:30 to empty ice blocks and give all the chickens and ducks warm water and some oatmeal with scratch (ducks got warm veggies). All of them came running out of their house eager for the warm foods. The really funny thing is that my silkies just walk around and scratch and don't even act like they are cold at all and my Australorps (my cold-hardy breed) kept sitting on their feet every few minutes or lifting one leg at a time up into their feathers. I expected the opposite. Two more nights of this and then we finally get back up into the upper teens again.
Oh, and just so you know, no - I do not heat nor do I have an insulated coop. They just have a thick straw bedding and are all doing just fine!

 

[maryhysong]

It's almost 9a.m. and it's still only 7 degrees! I went out this morning at 7:30 to empty ice blocks and give all the chickens and ducks warm water and some oatmeal with scratch (ducks got warm veggies). All of them came running out of their house eager for the warm foods. The really funny thing is that my silkies just walk around and scratch and don't even act like they are cold at all and my Australorps (my cold-hardy breed) kept sitting on their feet every few minutes or lifting one leg at a time up into their feathers. I expected the opposite. Two more nights of this and then we finally get back up into the upper teens again.

There's a reason I live where I do ;-) We only get that cold about once every 10 years or so; tho it's been longer than that since the last time so I suppose we are due. The low this morning was 19 at the reporting station 6 miles from me; probably a degree or two colder right here. The chicks in the hoop coop are hale and hearty even tho it was 25 out away from the heat lamp in there.